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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22984408">Sweeter than vanilla rose latte</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/moondancerfay/pseuds/moondancerfay'>moondancerfay</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>GOT7, MarkBum - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, Café, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Markbum Fic Exchange 2018, Markbum Fic Fest, Slice of Life, brave JB, cozy drinks and sweet love - story, songwriter JB, student mark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:29:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,463</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22984408</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/moondancerfay/pseuds/moondancerfay</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Before Jaebum met Mark he led an ordinary life with ordinary friends, ordinary hobbies and he didn’t really concern himself with what was going on in the world outside of his little bubble. Until the day he met the beautiful foreigner Mark...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Im Jaebum | JB/Mark Tuan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sweeter than vanilla rose latte</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Before Jaebum met Mark he led an ordinary life with ordinary friends, ordinary hobbies and he didn’t really concern himself with what was going on in the world outside of his little bubble. Until the day he met the beautiful foreigner Mark, a film student working on his projects in a vegan café in the neighborhood where JB works. Mark is an American exchange student, vegan and gay, things that throw JB totally off, because he doesn’t know anything about them and is totally overwhelmed by what he feels.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was a Wednesday morning when JB entered the little coffee shop around the corner of his studio where he worked as a producer and song writer for a big entertainment company. He really ‘made it’ he told himself nearly every day. He made it into the industry and he could afford to live from this job. He was proud and happy, he enjoyed life and was content – so he thought. The only thing really missing in his life was love. Not the love he could express when writing songs, which was a romantic fantasy he based on past experiences and media. It was true love that would fill his heart, someone who he wanted to take care of, to support and shower with affection apart from his cats. This was the only part of his life where he had failed until now. As the months went by and more and more of his friends were engaged, married or even had their first children, he felt lonely and gradually empty. Was he only chasing a dream that one day someone would enter his life and love him? His mind was always busy with deep thoughts and analyzing his surroundings. He wouldn’t openly admit it, but he was an old-school romantic at heart, writing poetry he would never share, drinking wine while sitting in his apartment at night with the lights out, listening to deep vocal house, watching Seoul’s amazing night skyline and the few visible stars.</p>
<p>JB couldn’t help it. This particular day he wanted to try something new, not following his routine to go to the same brand coffee shop, but trying a little neighborhood café. He overheard some female employees talking about this particular café and how they were swooning over the tall, handsome barista. So, why not give it a go and try something different once in a while?</p>
<p>The composer really liked the atmosphere when he entered, the soft piano music in the background, the light brown furniture, the plants and flowers, the wide windows where bright, warm daylight streamed into the room and the colorful paintings and posters on the walls. What he didn’t know was that this was a vegan café, which meant they had no milk products. It took him a while to choose a drink, there was so much info on fair trade coffee and whatnot, he was confused, so he chose the easiest option. The barista welcomed him with a lively smile and for sure, the ladies were right. He was a handsome boy. His hair jet-black, the long strands falling into his dark brown eyes, his full rosy lips curved into a smile as he asked for JBs order. The song writer made a fool of himself by stuttering “Iced Americano” while his cheeks slowly turned red. Why did he make a fool out of himself? After paying he quickly sat down in a free corner and looked around before taking out his little Simpsons notebook. While he waited for his coffee he jotted down some ideas. He loved how friendly the flowers made this place and he enjoyed looking at the paintings on the walls that showed animals. In the far corner next to the huge window sat a blonde guy. He caught his attention not only because his face looked absolutely stunning, edgy, a little feminine, sharp eyes, but also because when the barista was done with his order, he walked over and sat opposite the beauty to have a chat. So the two of them seemed to know each other well. He wanted to observe them longer, but his coffee was ready. He packed his stuff, grabbed the coffee, thanked the barista and headed out. When he took the first sip of his coffee he nearly spat the liquid out onto the street. This didn’t taste like coffee at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Over days JB was considering going back to the little café, not to have coffee, but to see if the handsome customer was there again. He felt like he needed to see him again. He wasn’t into guys, no, but he was curious about this person, he didn’t look Korean at all he thought. So when the opportunity came that some of the female employees headed out to their favorite café, he just joined them. They were surprised at first, but didn’t mind him joining.</p>
<p>It was Wednesday again and the chances were high that the blonde guy could be there. And he was right. While the females were all over the handsome barista, JB only had eyes for the blonde guy who sat at the exact same spot like last week. He seemed to be a regular here and JB liked seeing him, so he thought why not coming here more often? This time he ordered tiramisu latte, which didn’t taste that awesome either for him, but he bought a cherry cupcake too, which he enjoyed in the late afternoon and hands down it was delicious.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>JB even made the effort to pass by the café on other days of the week and most afternoons the blonde guy was there. The song writer made it a habit to spend one afternoon of the week doing some work in the café, so he could observe the guy and also get out of the studio every now and then.</p>
<p>By listening to the barista and the blonde guy talking, JB found out that his name was Mark and that he was doing his homework that seemed to be projects for his classes. At first he thought Mark was studying Korean as his spoken Korean was a bit off with some pronunciation flaws, but the few times JB could actually check out what Mark was doing all afternoon long (by casually walking by), he was really surprised as everything was in Korean. The scripts the older was working on and the books he brought with him were also mainly Korean publications. He initially knew that Mark was a foreigner because of his accent and the few mistakes he made when speaking to the nice barista. Nevertheless, his level of Korean was high and he admired that. When he was not too immersed in his own work, he loved to listen to Mark’s and the barista’s light conversations. It made him realize that he was totally fond of Mark’s pronunciation and his sometimes hesitating usage of words, probably because he couldn’t remember a few of them. In JBs eyes the foreigner was just too adorable.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Whenever JB stepped into the café he saw Mark totally focused and absorbed in his work. He looked up to him for it, because JBs mind wandered off too many times and for most of these times Mark was the reason.</p>
<p>While JB was working on a new song, sitting in the corner of the café, he every now and then let his gaze wander into Mark’s direction. The barista liked to talk to Mark a lot which wasn’t to his liking at all. Was he jealous? He couldn’t describe it easily how he felt about Mark, just that he wanted to see him which made him always come back to the café, even though their coffee was absolutely not his cup of tea.</p>
<p>Several times he thought of talking to him, but he had no idea how to start a conversation with this beautiful stranger. He was intimidated, but didn’t want to lose more time. Even though the semester only just started, he feared that he would lose the chance to get to know him when Mark stops coming to this café. After all, they never talked about how long Mark would stay and JB was scared that he would miss the opportunity to befriend him.</p>
<p>~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>October was finally here and the weather became colder. The American loved this time of the year, not only because he was a Halloween fan since he was a small child, but also because he loved to snuggle up with a hot drink and a good movie or drama. Many weeks had passed and Mark had the feeling that the customer numbers in the café doubled since he started visiting it. Somehow this place became his safe haven since he didn’t feel confident after arriving in Korea. His Korean was just so so, but he quickly found a new friend in the barista of the vegan café that was close to his small rented room. He thought it would be very difficult to find good places to eat, drink and hang out as a vegan, especially when being a foreigner, but he felt more accepted here in this little cafe than at any other place. The barista was an easy going guy who surprisingly was also vegan since the beginning of this year. They talked casually about random topics so Mark found out that he was much younger than him, that he danced professionally in his free time and that he was a big fan of a famous American R&amp;B singer. The young Korean made him feel accepted and therefore, Mark didn’t dread anymore staying in Korea for a full year. The only problem was to hide his interest in guys. He was openly gay in LA and all his family and friends knew, but he wouldn’t dare to be that open about it in Korea. While still in America he tried to do some research on homosexuality in Korea which scared him even more, so he wanted to keep it low, not look for any hook ups or gay bars for the time being. Although, the new regular customer with cat like eyes, wide shoulders and two small, sexy moles above his eye made him reconsider his decision.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The problem for JB was that he couldn’t see Mark as just a foreigner guy, but as someone he has a love interest in which made it extra difficult for him and he was awfully confused about it, contemplating every single day what he was doing. He was never interested in guys, what was going on, should he act on his feelings? In the past it were always the girls who made a move on him, so he didn’t even know how to do that. How to approach a stranger, not to come off as a creep or stalker? Additionally, he was a guy, so wouldn’t it be weird to start a conversation with him? He was extremely insecure. JB wouldn’t say that he is a very passive partner, but when it was about taking the initiative, he was more the “go-with-the-flow” type and followed the wishes of his girlfriends. Although, Mark seemed to be a very shy and quiet guy so JB had the feeling if he wanted to get to know him, he had to do whatever to take a first step in approaching the beauty. He had to move out of his comfort zone. It was time that he chased the person he had a massive crush on.</p>
<p>On the weekend he would meet his close friend Jinyoung and he wanted to speak about his problem without giving away that it was him who was interested. Nobody needed to know that he was attracted to a guy, not even his best friend. For now he wasn’t even sure himself if he would be confident enough to openly date a man. Not in this society. Would he disappoint his parents if he told them about falling for a guy? Even though he was close to his parents, he couldn’t do that. He didn’t know anything at all only that his had spun.</p>
<p>He took the last sip of his vanilla rose latte (he was through the whole drinks menu and liked this drink as one of the bests) and got up. When he swiftly moved to the door he bumped into someone. When he looked up he nearly dropped his phone. In front of him stood the beautiful foreigner. Their eyes met for a second and he was sure his by now burning red cheeks gave away that he had a crush on the other, if not his extremely loud beating heart. But, the beauty didn’t say anything regarding this, just: “You’re a regular too, right? I have seen you quite a few times.” That was all he said in such a beautiful deep voice that JB had to lower his gaze. His tongue was unwilling to follow his orders to say something – anything that made sense – so he just nodded shyly. What was he supposed to do now?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After their awkward first meeting where they introduced themselves they started to give smiles to each other whenever their eyes met in the café. JB’s heart was melting every time Mark showed his perfect teeth. What he didn’t know at that time was that the older also had a light crush on him and that each beautiful smile was solely for him – warm and genuine. Slowly they became closer and started to comfortably small talk with each other.</p>
<p>Once Mark took the opportunity to gift JB a piece of the new strawberry cake they had in the café and enjoyed how happy the younger was about it. Christmas was approaching – a holiday he always spent with his family – and he really wanted to keep JB as a friend, because he was patient with him and he felt that they were always on the same page.</p>
<p>Over time they sat together and shared Mark’s big table next to the window. Winter was here and the weather was gloomy and cold with snow every other day. They loved to chat over a cup of hot chocolate or green tea latte and work on their individual projects. JB visited the café now at least every third day to hang out with the foreigner and enjoy the sweet treats of the vegan café. He even got accustomed to soy milk.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So it happened that the two of them sat together over mousse au chocolat and that they chatted a little about Mark’s current film project. JB could listen to him for hours when the older talked about his passion. He admired Mark’s dream of being a director and filming queer movies and short dramas. Because Jaebum felt more comfortable now talking to Mark about these things and he liked Mark’s directness, he suddenly blurted out “Are you gay?” which surprised Mark a little, so he looked the younger straight into the eyes and blinked a few times in disbelieve, nevertheless, answered after a few seconds. “Yes, are you?” JB didn’t expect the other to be actually so frank as well and besides blushing, he just avoided to look at the American while defending himself. “No, no, I’m not, I was just curious. Sorry if I overstepped a boundary.” “No, I’m cool, but you don’t seem to be very comfortable with this topic, so if I annoy you with my rant about my gay stuff, please feel free to tell me and I stop it.” JB even used his hands to negate his annoyance and he made sure that Mark understood that he is not homophobic. The Korean thought it is brave of Mark to live his life the way he wanted and not giving a damn about people’s opinions. Though, deep inside he knew that his crush on the foreigner still had a certain bitterness with it since he didn’t know to which extent he could love him and even be with him regarding his own life. It made him sad. JB realized instantly he was wrong, he should have been honest with Mark and with himself. It was a big mistake to deny it. Mark was honest with him, why couldn’t he be, at least to the one person who could understand?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Their friendship developed wonderfully and they even met outside of the café every now and then, watching a movie or going to a foreign Christmas market, doing some shopping together or visiting new vegan restaurants. JB didn’t know that it is actually easy to live a vegan life if one has the right amount of knowledge and passion. Mark’s interest and love for this lifestyle slowly changed JB. He was aware of little things and even though he refused to watch another documentary about slaughter houses or diseases of modern society, he didn’t mind to be influenced by the foreigner. They enjoyed each other’s company a lot and a few days before Christmas, which JB didn’t celebrate at all since it was only a couple day in Korea, Mark invited him. The older would cook a several course dinner for them on Christmas Eve. Even before the invitation they both shared many moments of intimacy. Mark liked to be close to JB, walking right next to him, touching his body while talking, brushing their hands while exchanging things. It were these little things that mattered and showed their affection. JB wasn’t blind, he knew that Mark was gay and he was flirting with him. Mark wasn’t blind either so he could see how the younger looked at him, how he responded, how he cared for him and always made sure he was well fed, comfortable, sound and safe. They never spoke about all of this, they just let it happen naturally that their closeness became something that they couldn’t live without.</p>
<p>~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Christmas dinner was perfect, the food Mark prepared for them was outstanding and JB had one of the best evenings. They watched a movie together, listened to the rain, surrounded by candle light. When Mark was about to fall asleep on his shoulder, JB decided that it was time for him to leave. Though, Mark got up and insisted that he would take him to the metro station which was only a few minutes away from his new small apartment he had moved to. Despite JB checking if Mark was warmly dressed outside in the rainy weather, he still saw that the older’s fingers were trembling, so he took at least one hand into his. He wasn’t sure if this gesture was too straight forward but he didn’t care at this moment, he just wanted to make sure that Mark was warm and alright. They slowly walked down the path that passed the Han River and led to the nearest station. The rain fell constantly and deafened the noise of the city. They only heard the rain drops on the big umbrella they shared, their breaths and their footsteps. Right before they would walk up the stairs to the main street and station, JB turned to Mark who looked at him expectantly.  </p>
<p>It was now or never JB thought and he slowly leaned in to softly place a kiss onto Mark’s velvet lips. For a moment the world stood still until Mark gradually opened his mouth to let the younger in. They both had some experience, so it was simply a matter of fact that both waited for this moment to happen. The older pressed closer and JB leaned in further. He gently stroked over Mark’s bony cheek and felt how heated his skin was against his cold hand. The rain was forgotten, their wet shoes were too, also the romantic night view of the Han River and the few people passing by in the distance. It was just the two of them and their very special first kiss. JB didn’t need more. When they slowly stopped, taking deep breaths, and looking into each other’s eyes there were no words to be said, nothing to be articulated. Their gazes alone spoke of love and desire, but most of all of hope. Hope to be more than just friends. The smile that appeared on Mark’s lips was so sweet that it made JB totally giddy and he returned Mark’s beautiful smile and was delighted by his sparkling eyes. He hugged Mark tightly before he quickly placed a peck on the elder’s mouth. JB was so much in love, it hurt. How sweet was the other’s smile, how sweet these lips, how sweet of a kiss they shared and how sweet was Mark in general as a person? In Jaebum’s eyes definitely so much sweeter than the sweetest vanilla rose latte.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>~<em>fin</em>~</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This one shot was written for a Markbum's ficfest I participated in (2018/2019).<br/>The picture that was drawn especially for my story can be found here:<br/>https://twitter.com/markbumficfest/status/1083075723999342592<br/>and other Markbum stories here:<br/>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1229555<br/>Thanks for reading~</p></blockquote></div></div>
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